Florida school choice expansion on partisan path to early session adoption
(The Center Square) — A 158-page proposal to streamline Florida scholarship voucher programs to further expand the nation’s largest school choice initiative could be ready for adoption early in the 2021 legislative session.
Senate Bill 48, filed by Sen. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah, advanced through the Senate Education Committee Wednesday in a 6-4 partisan vote.
The bill, which would merge five school voucher scholarships into two programs while creating flexible education savings accounts (ESAs) for participating families, next goes before the House Education Appropriations Subcommittee.
SB 48 is not on the subcommittee’s Feb. 9 agenda but, with only two panel stops remaining, it could be ready for a Senate floor vote not long after the 60-day 2021 legislative session convenes March 2.
Florida’s five tuition voucher programs pay for 160,000 K-12 students to attend more than 1,800 private schools. Although it is the nation’s largest school choice program, proponents maintain it must grow to meet increasing demand, especially among low-income, minority families.
SB 48 would transfer students now participating in the Florida Tax Credit (TCS) and Hope scholarship programs into the Family Empowerment Scholarship (FES), created in 2019.
The McKay Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities and the Gardiner Scholarship Program are rolled into the McKay-Gardiner Scholarship Program under the bill.
SB 48 proposes state funding for vouchers, now 95 percent of public school per-pupil allocations, be increased to 97.5 percent.
Under SB 48, families can spend voucher allocations through ESAs, which could cover expenditures such as electronic devices, curriculum, part-time tutoring programs, educational supplies, equipment and therapies that insurance programs do not cover.
The FTC, with 100,512 enrolled in 1,807 private schools last year, and the FES, with 28,000 voucher recipients, constitute the vast majority of school choice students.
The FTC, created in 2001, is funded by mostly-corporate contributions in exchange for tax write-offs. Under SB 48, donors could still contribute and receive tax credits.
The FES, created by lawmakers at the behest of Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2019, significantly expands school voucher programs directly funded by taxpayer money, previously restricted to McKay and Gardiner scholarships.
Students are FES-eligible if household income doesn’t exceed 260 percent of the federal poverty level. If more than 5 percent of scholarships are available when the school year begins, families who earn 325 percent of the federal poverty level – $80,000 for a family of four – are eligible.
In 2020, lawmakers agreed to grow the FES, originally capped at 18,000 students, annually by about 10,000 students.
During Wednesday’s hearing, the four Democrats on the 10-member Senate Education Committee proposed an amendment imposing accountability measures on private schools that accept state scholarships.
Under state law, private schools do not have to meet public school standards for teacher credentials, curriculum or facilities.
The amendment failed in the same partisan tally that SB 48 passed: 6-4.
SB 48 is a “death knell” for public education, declared Sen. Perry Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale.
“What they want to do is dismantle public education,” he told reporters. “That’s what’s being done, step by step by step.”
In a statement after the vote, Diaz reiterated “parents — not government — should determine where and how to educate their child,” noting, “Families have a variety of needs and not all children succeed in the same type of educational setting.”
SB 48 “also modifies the priority funding list to ensure we support Florida’s students who are most in need first,” he said. “Priority is given to students who are renewing their scholarships or are retained on the waitlist, students in foster care, victims of bullying and harassment, participants’ siblings, and lower-income families.”
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